A day in pictures....oh, and Halloween

Early morning ABC's

Ready for Jammy day at school

Mid day bath so there's plenty of time for trick or treating
Mixing up some "food" in the kitchen
Yes! Water!
Water is better without the wet clothes

Hailey can make you dinner and then build you a house in 15 minutes flat and doesn't even need her clothes

Focused on the job

Creating and cutting
My Halloween at home....mom said this is my costume

Spidey power...ready to go

Almost standing next to each other

All my trick or treat candy

Worn out.....goodnight!

Preschool Trick or Treat

Tyler's preschool is in our community church (only about 2 miles from our home....that's the best). The school and church put on a Halloween celebration tonight. It was for everyone of all ages but lots of preschoolers were there as well. The theme for the party was Monsters Inc. All the classrooms had their doors decorated and were handing out candy. Then the main congregating room was decorated with rows of decorated doors, all giving out candy. At the end of it all you ended up at bounce houses. There were tons of people but we still had fun. There was even an Elmo door, to Hailey's delight. Tyler was excited for the bounce houses but they were pretty busy. Fortunately yesterday I was at the school for a while in the afternoon helping with the decorations. Tyler and a handful of other kids were able to have full run of the bounce houses while moms worked. By the time I got back his face was 5 shades of red because he'd been playing so hard. I'm glad he was able to do that since it was so busy tonight. The church also had shows and a carnival which we stopped by briefly. Tyler has loved his Halloween costume and with his mask on you really can't even tell it's him. He did announce on our way home that tomorrow night he wants to wear his race car driver costume (last years costume) with his spider man mask. I'm not sure if last year's costume even fits him any more but it will be interesting to see what he really dresses up as tomorrow night. Tomorrow we will just go around our cul-de-sac and maybe one more just so Tyler can have some fun.....how much candy does an almost 4 year old need anyway???

Oh and Dave got off work early so he could come with us, which was great!

Spidey and family

Not sure where he learned to shoot web out of his hands but cleary he's become one with his costume

Spider Man and Mikey

The good looking guy under the mask

Not sure what to think about all these crazy people

Hailey loves to carry bags so she was happy to have a trick or treat bag (so mom and dad could get some candy :))Elmo Door
Tigger Door

Share

Tyler's preschool class has a "share" bag that cirulates through the kids. One child takes it home each day and brings it back the next class. Of course when they bring it back it is supposed to have something they want to share with the class in it. During one of their circle times the child that has the bag gets to share their toy/or whatever they brought with the class. In addition to being able to share something special from home, it gives the kids the opportunity to speak in front of the class with everyone else listening/watching. They also get to as answer questions from the teacher (and maybe kids??). Tyler brought the share bag home for the first time on Monday and was very excited. Yesterday and this morning various toys were named the "share" toy. Yesterday afternoon he had pretty much decided on his Air Force One plane. Then last night before bed it was going to be a geotrax train and a piece of track. This morning it was back to Air Force One. He ultimately walked out the door with his Breakdown Crane Train from his Thomas trains.

You could tell he was excited and felt pretty special. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during his presentation to his class. I have no idea if he was shy and quiet or totally confident. I did hear, after class, that he played with the breakdown train on the train table at school. He also said that he let Caden play with the flatbed but that he (Tyler) was "in charge" of the crane. I took that as he wanted to share the train with the class during circle but wouldn't actually share the trian during play time :) (ie, look at this neat toy I have, please don't touch it). Tyler is already looking forward to the next time he gets to bring the share bag home. Now he is looking forward to Pajama Day on Friday where they not only get to where their pajamas but they also get to bring a stuffed animal or a blanket.....wonder what he will choose. They will be hiberating in their pj's to finish off their hibernation topic of the last few weeks.

Hailey Pics and Counting

Hailey loves counting and if she has her mind to it she can count up to ten, though her favorites are 6 and 7. I am quite impressed by this as I know Tyler wasn't counting at this age. Then again, Hailey gets to hear Tyler counting who knows how many times a day so she really has no choice but to hear it constantly. Her two favorite things to count are some stacking cups (she loves making a tower out of these, counting as we add each cup, and then knock the tower down) and the numbers on the track at the high school. At the school she runs up to each number and we count it from 1 to 8 and back again.

Here are a few pics from the last couple days.

Daddy's got big shoes to fill

I see gymnastics in our future

She loves her books

Will you marry me??

I'm not sure where it came from but the last few days Tyler has been telling Dave and I that he wants to marry me when he grows up. With a face like this...how could I say no :)? Truth is I'm touched and am trying to make the most of it as he may want to marry me today but in about ten years he probably won't really even want to talk to me. Tonight as we were getting ready for bed, Tyler once again brought up the marriage topic. It's clear he has been putting some thought into it as he said, "Mommy, when I grow up I want to marry you. We can buy a house. It will have four garages". So I said, "Really? What is going to be in the 4 garages?". Tyler, "Cars of course (eyes rolling)". Me, "What kind of cars?". Tyler in his most serious voice, "a semi truck, a moving truck, a super duty pickup truck, and a garbage truck".

New words and not much going on

Nothing really exciting to report for the weekend because both kids are sick with colds. We've mostly just stayed around the house. We did go to the High School for a while yesterday afternoon just to get some fresh air and the kids played out in the backyard for about 1/2 hour this afternoon. Most of the time was spent swinging and making mud soup.

Sick Hailey BabyBooks with Daddy
Snuggle Fort
How to make mud soup: scoop
dump, have your sister hand mix,
and watch it closely

Hailey's had a few new sayings that have been kind of fun....just because they sound so funny coming out of her little mouth/body. For the past week or so we've heard a lot of: "I'm strong". She will specifically go and pick up one of the little kids chairs just so she can say it. She's also been saying "Oh, nuts" a lot which she says so cute and funny. The third new saying is "What happened??". They have all been fun to hear. Over the last few weeks we've heard a lot more "excuse me", which she will say any time any noise comes out of her mouth. It's especially cute/funny when she has the hiccups because she'll say "excuse me" after each one. She says "LOOK!" a lot as well. Each time it's said with great volume and enthusiasm. We are also getting more love you, love you's out of her.

Check out my new hat

Swimming Update

Today seems like a good day to do a swimming update because I believe that Tyler worked so hard at swimming today (ok, he also got up at 5:45) he actually took an hour nap! That's unheard of these days.

Tyler took the daily outdoor swim lessons through August and then in September we started a 2 day a week swim lesson at a local gym. So now on the days he doesn't have school, he goes to swimming lessons. I started out just hoping to reinforce what he learned this summer, long enough so we wouldn't have to start again next summer. But he really enjoys going and has never complained about it. In addition, he has made huge strides the last few weeks thanks to a new teacher. Tyler loves Adam now, though refused to take his first class a few weeks ago because he did not like "man" teachers. But now all is good and Adam has really pushed Tyler along. He is swimming short distances on his own and having a good time at it. We may just continue on with the swimming through the winter until Tyler gets tired of it or soccer season starts.....we'll see which happens first :).

Just a couple pics from yesterday because I got a great laughing face shot. This all took place will Tyler was mixing up a mystery drink of water and orange juice (yummy) that started out with a little water and a little orange juice in a cup. It ended up as a little water, a whole bottle of orange juice, about 5 spoons and other mixing utensils, and a large bowl. To his credit he did eventually drink majority of it.

At some point during the mixing, things got very funny

Excellent pouring

And I can't leave out Hailey and her new, so cute, Elmo outfit. She loves her Sesame Street so this was a hit with her.